To Show You How Much I Love You
by hermionepuckle
Summary: It's the day before Valentines day and Ron is doing something special or last minute... you decide for Hermione. More of a Ron/Rose, father/daughter fic.


**Title:** To Show How Much I Love You…  
**Ship:** Ron/Hermione  
**Rating:** PG  
**Prompt:** Card - flistafest at LJ  
**Word Count:** 1263  
**Summary:** Ron does something special (or something last minute) for Valentine's Day.  
**A/N:** Daddy!Husband!Ron owns my heart 

* * *

It was the day before Valentine's Day and Ron stood in the middle of the shop, overwhelmed by the red surrounding him. There was so much to choose from and everything was blending together to make one huge, red splodge as he stood, panicking, in the packed aisle. 

All he wanted was a card. They'd agreed not to buy each other presents this year, their funds not being what they once were.

Although Hugo was one year old now, Hermione hadn't yet returned to work. After giving birth to Rose, Hermione had rushed back, and she had struggled to maintain her increasing workload (but she wouldn't admit that). After Hugo was born, she decided that maybe it was better for the children if she stayed at home to look after them for a while.

Of course, this was after she'd ensured that she'd definitely be able to get her job back whenever she wanted it. A contract had been signed and everything. Ron hadn't a clue how she'd done it. She was smart woman, his Hermione.

Ron squeezed past the occupants of the shop, most of them men, trying to get closer to a stand of particularly large cards. So they all left it till last minute too, he thought. It really is true what they say: men are rubbish at romance.

He kept getting shoved back and out of the way.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't stay here much longer. It was horrible.

----

"What is Daddy doing?"

A little girl in a pair of navy pyjamas tiptoed into the room. She was dragging her favourite hippogriff toy along behind her with one hand, and rubbing at her eye with the other.

Ron was sat at the dining table. It was covered with coloured card, photographs, glitter, scissors, spellotape and any books on 'Creative Charms' that he had found on his wife's bookshelf.

"You, young lady, are supposed to be in bed," he said, as he stood to pick her up. She rested her head delicately on his shoulder, and reached up to stroke his face gently.

"I'm not sleepy," she said, yawning. Ron chuckled.

"Oh, really?" He asked, stroking her hair and kissing her on the forehead. "You didn't wake your brother, did you?"

"No," she whispered. "He all snuggled up with his silly orange bear."

"That's not a silly orange bear. That's the Cannon's bear that Daddy got for him." He walked over back to the table and sat back down, Rose on his knee.

"It's silly. Mummy said," she giggled. "He is only two. He doesn't know about 'waffles' and 'nudgers'."

"Oh, Mummy said that, did she?" Ron laughed. He tickled her ribs and blew a raspberry on her cheek, making her squeal in delight. "Well, you don't listen to Mummy! You listen to Daddy."

"But Mummy knows everything," Rose answered, her voice full of admiration.

"Well, I suppose that's true," he grinned. He turned back towards the table and waved his wand at the spellotape, encouraging it to stick a picture to the front of a piece of card he had folded over.

"What is you doing, Daddy?"

"Daddy is making Mummy a card," he said, as he used his wand to print 'Happy Valentine's Day' across the bottom of the card. "To show her how much Daddy loves her."

"Why don't you just give her a kiss?" Rose pulled a face at the uneven letters. "I think she'd like that."

"I'll give her one of those too," Ron smiled. "But this is a surprise."

"But Mummy knows everything."

"No, this is a secret, so you mustn't tell her… Shhh."

"Shhh… a secret," Rose whispered, giggling a little.

She watched him work as he used his wand to stick various decorations to the card.

"Who is that?" she asked after a few minutes, pointing at the picture. The children in the picture sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, looking at something just out of the frame that spectators couldn't see. It was probably Harry.

"This is Mummy," Ron said, pointing to the young girl with bushy hair. "And this one is Daddy," he pointed to the tall, gangly redhead.

"No!" Rose laughed. "They is not Mummy and Daddy. They is not old."

"This is when Mummy and Daddy were in school together. This is when we were young."

Ron stared at the picture. It was one of his favourites. He couldn't remember where it had come from, but he suspected Colin Creevey had something to do with it.

He watched as a younger version of himself turned to look at Hermione. Even though he didn't know exactly when this was taken, he could remember exactly how he'd been feeling. Then, in the photo, he looked away. If Ron continued to stare at himself, he would always feel just a little bit heartbroken about the look on his face. _I've got no chance_, it said.

Of course, that wasn't the reason he loved the picture.

As he looked away, Hermione looked back at him, and her face mirrored his perfectly. First, for a split second, it was like he was the only thing in the room, the only thing that mattered. Then, she looked away, and Ron could see that she was thinking the same way as him. _Why would he ever want me?_

"Are you sad?" Rose asked quietly after watching his expression for a few moments, her own lip quivering as though about to cry.

"No, Rosie, I'm not sad," he smiled and gave her a squeeze. "I'm very happy indeed."

"Because you love Mummy?"

"Yes, I love Mummy very much."

"And you love us?"

"I love you and Hugo more than anything in the world."

"Even more than chocolate?" Rose gasped.

"Even more than that," he answered, pinching her nose affectionately.

"I love you too, Daddy," she wrapped her little arms around his neck and snuggled into his chest. "More than chocolate, too."

He felt his heart swell at her little declaration. He stood up and clutched her tightly to his chest.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

He carried her to the bedroom she shared with Hugo. He covered her over with the duvet, making sure to tuck Buckbeak in securely next to her. He kissed her on the forehead and made his way over to the door, stopping to kiss a sleeping Hugo too.

"Daddy?" He heard a whisper as he reached the door.

"What is it?"

"Do you want me to make you a card to show you how much I love you?"

"Yes, if you want to. You can make me one tomorrow."

"Even with glitter?"

"Even with glitter. Now go to sleep."

----

"Oh, Ron, it's perfect," Hermione exclaimed, tears in her eyes. She threw herself at him in the same way she had during their very first kiss, arms wrapping around his neck as he lifted her just slightly off the ground.

He smiled when she broke away, and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you," he whispered. "I can't believe we've been together for almost twelve years. I can't believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you."

"You better believe it," she said, eyes still sparkling as she nuzzled her nose against his cheek.

"Daddy," Rosie said, tugging at his sleeve to get his attention. He glanced down to see his daughter, who looked like she'd just took a bath in glitter, and holding out a small piece of card that was equally covered in it. "My card to show you how much I love you."


End file.
